On My Way

Like many people, when I was in school, I hated it. My reasons may not have been the same, but the emotion was. All through high school, I swore that once I graduated I was done. I had no desire or plans to go to college. I wanted to be completely done with any type of formal schooling. I would tell anyone who asked that I would never, ever go to college, that I hated school that much.

And I kept my word. I got engaged to my high school sweetheart on the same day I graduated, and a year later we were married. Oh I slipped once, and signed up for a correspondence course, but I lost interest fairly quickly and never got very far into it. I still hated school and never planned to go back. The mindset held true.

Until January 2006. I found myself unable to work at a regular job. All my job skills were in retail and security, both fields that required physical mobility. Which I no longer had. I couldn't unload a truck, stock shelves, or walk a patrol. I had no other skills that I could do, no abilities to get a job that could accommodate my physical limitations. So, I went online and looked at colleges.

Two days later, I was sitting in the admitting office, signing the paperwork that would start my college years. I was 32 years old, and finally going to college, something I swore I would never do. Amazing how life changes your mind, isn't it? Something you swear to at 18, 19, even at 25 can all totally change within just a few years. I finished all the registration paperwork and was told classes start in 3 days. I was there on time for my first class. I felt embarrassed at first, surely I was too old for college now. But it turns out, many people my age or older have gone back to college or like me, finally took the steps to further their education.

I wasn't sure when I enrolled, exactly what it was that I wanted to do, so I settled on an Associates degree in Computer Office. I figured that would give me 2 years to decide what my main goal would be. It didn't take long for me to decide I would continue on to get a Bachelor's degree in Accounting when I was done with my Associates.

That was almost 2 yrs ago. Today, I am in the middle of week 7, of my last 12 week term. I am due to graduate with my Associates in January. Next week, I go in to register for my Bachelor's and commit the next 2 or 3 years to more schooling. I think back now on that vow I made in high school. Never to go to college. It makes me smile to think how young and naive I was then. So much I didn't know, thinking I knew everything I ever needed.

These last 2 years in school have not been easy. My physical limitations caused me a great deal of difficulty in attending classes, but even still I rarely missed any. When I moved, the driving distance became to much for me to handle, so I switched to online courses. I was lucky in a way, choosing Computer Office made for some easy classes. Much of the material I had already learned just from using my own computer for many years. The classes I was required to take simply refreshed and expanded on the knowledge I had already cobbled together.

Some of the classes were difficult for me though. I hated the history class. It wasn't difficult to do, but there was so much writing involved in answering all the questions. General Psychology was a fun class, Oral Communications was nerve-wracking, I hated giving speeches. I was a little scared of Algebra as I had failed it 3 times in high school, but I was happily surprised to have little trouble with it.

I have made it through almost 2 complete years of college now, and to my amazement, I have maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA. Straight A's in all my classes so far. Only this term left and if I can manage to get an A in each of the 3 classes I am in now, I will graduate to my Associates with a perfect score. Not bad for a person that hated school so much she swore never to continue, is it? Looking back, I did horrid in high school, D's and F's and barely managing to graduate. I would never in my wildest dreams ever have thought that I could do so well in school.

I am looking forward to getting that degree in January, but the classes I am in now are the most difficult ones so far. Two of them are computer classes, so I am doing well in them, they are challenging but not impossible. The 3rd class is Composition 2, this is the hardest class I have taken. I am fighting hard to maintain an A in this class and I am not sure I will be able to. Regardless, I have come to far to give up now, so I am putting all my effort into this, and I am looking forward to all the possibilities that are opening up.

Going back to college has been the best thing I have ever done for myself. Sometimes I wish I had done it sooner, but I know that the time wasn't right until now. So 5 more weeks of school and then I have my first degree. And then I start on my second. At 18 years old, I would never have imagined having 2 college degrees to my name. I am constantly amazed at how my life has turned out. I will be thrilled to hold that first degree, and stunned if I make it with a 4.0 GPA, but regardless of my grade at the end, I will be able to hold that degree and know that "I did it!"

And that, to me, is the most valuable knowledge I can ever have. To know "I did it!" and that I can do it again!